Busy working…

Are we too soft?

Just recently I’m feeling myself becoming more and more frustrated with those who are laying their feelings bare on Facebook. I see status updates like “sad”, or “why is it always me?”

My feeling around this kind of soul baring is this – where’s your dignity?

Maybe it’s an old fashioned view. Maybe the world did change the day Diana died and a mass outpouring of grief flooded the UK, but I’m still of the old school I think.

I just feel that those posting these status updates are just begging for a response. And those who respond, do so in the knowledge that their response is public and they are seen to care more than others.

For really personal feelings, I just think people ought to talk directly to friends rather than reach out publicly for sympathy and reaction. Harps back to Stan Rapp’s comment about the narcissism of todays consumer.

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2 thoughts on “Are we too soft?”

Depends on how you manage your FB account, I think. Personally, I only Add people that I genuinely do consider to be my friends and am happy to share my personal thoughts with. I use Linked In or other networks for anything else. But if someone’s got hundreds of acquaintances, most of whom they wouldn’t be able to pick out in a police line-up, then posting an intimate status seems self-publicistic (made up word), I agree. It’s all about what you’re using it for, isn’t it?

Thanks Lynn. It’s interesting how we give more of ourselves on FB than Twitter for example and keep Linkedin, quite properly, for business relationships. Although I’ve noticed that a number of people have synched their Twitter account with Linkedin, so that all their personal tweets are visible to
their professional network in a way I’m sure they didn’t intend!

My observation was triggered by Stan Rapp’s comment at a conference last month, when he described this generation of consumers as the most narcisisstic in history. My observations of peoples use of FB to polish their ‘me’ brands reinforced this view.